Percy Jackson and the Olympians writer Rick Riordan took the stage at New York Comic Con this past weekend to help get fans excited about the upcoming Disney+ adaptation of his beloved novel series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians (note the “and” vs the “&”; or don’t, it’s not a huge deal). Fans in attendance got to watch the first seven minutes of the premiere episode, as well as some other clips. According to Deadline, they include:
- Percy, the young demigod played by Walker Scobell, gets some revenge against a school bully during a class trip to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- A a five-minute reel showing Percy having his fighting skills tested at Camp Half-Blood, where young demigods go to learn about their abilities.
- A chase scene where Percy, his mother Sally (Virginia Kull), and friend Grover (Aryan Simhadri) try to flee the Minotaur in Sally’s car.
The conceit of the show is that young Percy finds out his father is the Greek god Poseidon. From there, he befriends Grover, a satyr, and Annabeth (Leah Jeffries), the daughter of Athena. They get to having adventures post-haste.
How Disney+ found a new actor to play Percy Jackson
Casting the three young leads was crucial. Showrunner Jonathan E. Steinberg said that they approaching the casting process thinking, “If it’s right, we’re going to know it the moment it walks in the door.”
"And the first time I saw Walker. there was a little voice in my head that said, ‘I think that’s the kid.’ … And we got very lucky because we found it three times."
Deadline describes Scobell as “unmistakably younger and more boyish” than Logan Lerman, who played Percy Jackson in a couple of movies in the early 2010s. We’ll see how they compare soon enough.
Lin-Manual Miranda, Megan Mullally, Jason Mantzoukas and more in Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Beyond the main trio, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is stacked with stars, including:
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes
Megan Mullally as Alecto/Mrs. Dodds
Toby Stephens as Poseidon
Jason Mantzoukas as Dionysus/Mr. D
Jay Duplass as Hades
Glynn Turman as Chiron/Mr. Brunner
Lance Reddick as Zeus
Adam Copeland as Ares
Charlie Bushnell as Luke Castellan
Dior Goodjohn as Clarisse La Rue
Jessica Parker Kennedy as Medusa
Suzanne Cryer as Echinda
Timm Sharp as Gabe Ugliano
Virginia Kull as Sally Jackson
Timothy Omundson as Hephaestus
Percy Jackson and the Olympians premieres on Disney+ on December 20.
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